D&T Article Heena

What is immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses your body’s immune system to find and destroy cancer cells. Your immune system identifies and destroys intruders, including cancerous cells. Immunotherapy boosts your immune system so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells.

Immunotherapy for cancer is a very effective treatment that may help some people with cancer live longer. Medical researchers are developing new immunotherapy drugs to treat more types of cancer.

How does immunotherapy work?

Your immune system’s everyday job is to protect your body from intruders, from allergens and viruses to damaged cells that could become cancerous. It has special cells that constantly patrol your body for intruders. When they find a damaged or cancerous cell, they destroy it. That keeps cancerous tumors from growing and spreading. But cancer is a moving target. Cancerous cells constantly look for ways to dodge immune system defenses. Immunotherapy works by:

• Training your immune system so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells.
• Helping your body produce cancer-fighting immune cells that effectively locate and destroy cancer cells.

What cancers does immunotherapy treat?

Healthcare providers consider immunotherapy a first-line or initial treatment for many types of metastatic cancer, or cancer that’s spread. They may combine immunotherapy with chemotherapy, targeted therapy or other cancer treatments. Providers use different types of immunotherapy to treat many kinds of cancer. Each immunotherapy type uses different elements of your immune system.

What are types of immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy types include:

• Checkpoint inhibitors.
• Adoptive cell therapy (T-cell transfer therapy).
• Monoclonal antibodies.
• Cancer vaccines.
• Immune system modulators.